Courtney Pine didn't pick up his beloved tenor saxophone for more than a decade, until an album exploring the black British experience demanded it. The multi-instrumentalist eschewed the horn on the likes of Europa, House of Legends and Song (The Ballad Book), his two-hander with pianist Zoe Rahman. I spoke to Sonny Rollins about five years ago at a concert, and I asked him, 'Why don't you play loads of instruments, like John Coltrane?' What he said was, ...

It isn't a characteristically positive sign when an album incorporates obvious humor into its credits and occasionally, the music itself. The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren could raise red flags with its title, personnel adjectives such as Terrifying Trombones" and listing Kellyanne Conway as Alternative Executive Producer." But a listener familiar with The Ed Palermo Big Band, Cuneiform catalog, including Oh No! Not Jazz!! (2014), One Child Left Behind (2016) and The Great Un-American Songbook, Vols. I & II (2017), knows ...

The Chicago-based reissue label, Numero Group, has done much to resurrect musical gems of the past, especially in their acclaimed Eccentric Soul Series that has uncovered music released by forgotten labels like Capsoul, Deep City and Prix. The latest entry in the catalog is a musical monograph of the unsung soul singer, Jackie Shane, who finally gets her due with the box set Any Other Way (2017) that collects a large part of her musical output. On the surface, it ...

An alumnus of London's Trinity College of Music, tenor saxophonist Leo Richards, who incidentally is the son of bassist Jim Richardson (formerly of the jazz rock band If), graduated from the College with a first class honours degree in Jazz Performance. Whilst studying at Trinity he was tutored by some world class players including Jean Toussaint, Julian Siegel, Martin Speake, Mark Lockheart and Mick Foster. Since leaving Trinity he has become an in-demand saxophonist on the London Jazz scene. He's ...

Mostly Other People Do The Killing have released their second CD of 2017 and, in keeping with the group's unpredictability, it's a bit of a curve ball. Whereas on previous releases they've ranged in size from a quartet to a septet, this time they've cut themselves down to a simple piano trio. Other than that, it's business as usual. Bassist Moppa Elliott's original compositions are still named for towns in Pennsylvania (which this time all include colors in their names), ...

Although they are primarily known for their gold CD reissue program and multi-channel SACDs, the Audio Fidelity firm has recently plunged into the vinyl market with a small number of titles. These limited edition 180 gram pressings are remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and packaged in glossy gatefold covers. Tapping into some music not usually associated with audiophile editions, Audio Fidelity's most recent batch of releases wisely includes the superlative 1982 release Passion, Grace, and Fire by guitar ...

A regular member of Tim Berne's Snakeoil and the Dave Douglas Quintet, pianist/keyboardist/composer Matt Mitchell has recently appeared on Rudresh Mahanthappa's Bird Calls (ACT Music, 2015) and Jonathan Finlayson's Moving Still (Pi Recordings, 2016). Mitchell has worked with a broad array of top-name artists including Steve Coleman, John Hollenbeck and Mario Pavone. Mitchell is a chameleon, able to take on completely different musical personas across of fast array of situations. His own Vista Accumulation (Pi Recordings, 2015) was one of ...

It's a daunting task but a laudable ambition to afford direct tribute to a musician as iconic as Miles Davis and a work of his equal in stature, Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970). But like the ensembles before them that revisited this bonafide classic, including the World Saxophone Quartet, Lettuce prove up to the task. In fact, he octet tender their homage, Witches Stew, in such a way it suggests 'The Man with the Horn,' were he still living, might well ...

When listening to the Mica Bethea Big Band's generally admirable two-CD set, Stage 'n Studio, the first thought is, Why hasn't anyone done this before?" That query is immediately replaced by a second thought: Perhaps someone has and we simply overlooked it." In either case, Bethea's decision to perform (basically) the same material in a recording studio and in front of an audience was clearly inspired. That the result is somewhat less so is no fault of Bethea or the ...

Jazz and the blues--because together this musical brother and sister speak from our nation's days of the current cultural affairs and the authenticity and truth of a place where the rhythms held the pulse and the drums the heartbeat, representing every step closer the meat on the bone

Jazz and the blues--because together this musical brother and sister speak from our nation's days of the current cultural affairs and the authenticity and truth of a place where the rhythms held the pulse and the drums the heartbeat, representing every step closer the meat on the bone. Feet in the dirt, or barefoot on a stage with sequins--it's soul beats in my chest.
I was first exposed to jazz while others listened to surf music in the '50s and '60s, it was Monk, Miles, Satchmo and Ella, Rosemary Clooney and Julie London followed. Margaret Whiting, Les McCann, Willie Bobo, Andy Simpkins, Snooky Young, Bill Basie and Helen Humes. The first time I heard Topsy, Take 2, I about passed out at the age of ten.
I've hung with Les McCann who more than 30 years after our first meeting became my duet partner on my CD, Don't Go To Strangers. Karen Hernandez from the start, Jack Le Compte on drums, Lou Shoch on bass, Steve Rawlins as my arranger and pianist, Grant Geissman - guitar genius, Nolan Shaheed, Richard Simon, and more. The big boys. My Red Hot Papas. The best show I ever attended was...
I met Helen Humes first back in 1981 and helped turn one Playboy Jazz Festival night into her tribute, bring the Basie Band to stage, her joy boys. Before she took the stage for the last time to sing, If I could Be With You One Hour Tonight thousands of copies of the newspaper I wrote for carried her story. It was kismet, her being held by Joe Williams backstage. Soon in my life were the great Linda Hopkins who told me I sang the song she wrote better than her, which floored me of course, the energizing Barbara Morrison and the stellar Marilyn Maye who guided me professionally.
My advice to new listeners... let your backbone slip and feel your body stripping back the barriers that prevent us from being one with the music.
Remember none of us are strangers, we just haven't met yet.